tar/brake pad adhesive on wheels

[Eric_R_Kissell at email.whirlpool.com]

Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net> wrote:
>Guys, I got a problem.
>I accidentally only rewaxed the passenger side ronals a month or two
>ago, and despite regular cleanings, the left wheels are now covered
>in little black+brown specs.  Wonderful.
[snip]
>Any suggestions?  Anything that maybe can be left on the spots for a
>long time to soften them?  I tried using the prewax cleaner to get a
>fresh surface for the 3m/stoner stuff to get in and soften it as I
>have read this works, but no luck.  [snip]

The best cleaner I ever tried on wheels was a "Driveway Spot Remover" that
was, IIRC, manufactured by Coastal. About 5 years ago I picked up a gallon
jug of it along with a jug of "Purple Cleaner." Before I had my Fuchs
mounted I wanted to clean the wheels up very well inside and out even
though they only had a few spots on the outside. I tried several different
"wheel cleaners" without much success. I tried Simply Green and the Purple
Cleaner with equally disappointing results. While putting the Purple
Cleaner back on the shelf I spied the Driveway Spot Remover and I was
desperate enough to try a test application of it. The test application
cleaned very well and I saw no evidence of negative effecys on the finish.
The cleaner smells much like the Purple Cleaner, so I guess the chemistry
is similar. So, I went ahead and cleaned all of the wheels with no visible
damage to date. I attampted to purchase more of this Driveway Spot Remover
recently but Auto Zone no longer carries it.

As far as using WD-40, do you have any evidence that it would harm the
finish? I would think it might not harm a wheel finish. I would only worry
about certain plastics under stress and long term contact.

Eric R. Kissell
1986 5000cstq, 1.8 bar (SJM), K24, Fuchs
1989 200q Avant, 1.5 bar, K24, Bilsteins
1987 VW GTI 16V, 1984cc, Bilsteins
Evansville, Indiana, USA